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The Academy of American Poets is the largest membership-based nonprofit organization fostering an appreciation for contemporary poetry and supporting American poets. For over three generations, the Academy has connected millions of people to great poetry through programs such as National Poetry Month, the largest literary celebration in the world; Poets.org, the Academy’s popular website; American Poets, a biannual literary journal; and an annual series of poetry readings and special events. Since its founding, the Academy has awarded more money to poets than any other organization.

Whom You Love

Joseph O. Legaspi

"Tell me whom you love, and I’ll tell you who you are." – Creole Proverb

The man whose throat blossoms with spicy chocolatesTempers my ways of flurryingIs my inner recesses surfacingPaints the bedroom blue because he wants to carry me to the skiesPear eater in the orchardPossesses Whitmanesque urge & urgencyBoo Bear, the room turns orchestral Crooked grin of ice cream persuasionWhen I speak he bursts into seeds & religionPoetry housed in a harmonicaLine dances with his awkward flairRare steaks, onion rings, Maker’s on the rocksOnce-a-boy pilfering grenadineNebraska, Nebraska, NebraskaWicked at the door of happinessAt a longed-for distance remains sharply crystallineFragments, but by day’s end assembled into joint narrativeDoes not make me who I am, entirelyHeart like a fig, slicedPeonies in a clear round vase, singingA wisp, a gasp, sonorous stutterTuning fork deep in my belly, which is also a bellEvening where there is no church but fireSparks, particles, chrysalis into memoryMoth, pod of enormous pleasure, fluttering about on a trainHe knows I don’t need saving & rescues me anyhowOur often-misunderstood kind of love is dangerousDarling, fill my cup; the bird has come to roost